A Fangboy's worst nightmare
by K.B
Summary: AU Tasuki ‘accidently’ ends up in another level of the earth, realising that his troubles have only just begun …
1. Chapter I

Title : A Fangboy's worst nightmare Author : K.B. Disclaimer : Don't own, don't make money Warnings : None yet, though I could be wrong about the rating for later chapters .  
  
Chapter I  
  
Walking through the pitch-dark forest in the middle of a wet, cold and stormy night of December, Tasuki, the red haired bandit of the seven Suzaku seishi, wondered for the thousands time how he had gotten himself into this mess.  
  
He had been knocked out cold for hours and hours, only remembering a scream followed by a bright light. And now he found himself walking through this forest not knowing where he was.  
  
But the most important question was, where had his companions disappeared to ? He remembered Nuriko's ghost nagging at him to hurry so they wouldn't be late for his highness' son's birthday. Why the other seishi kept on running after Hotohori even after his true sex had been discovered and after actually dying, was beyond him, but he guessed that's Nuriko..  
  
At the thought of one of his closest friends the red haired bandit chuckled until a wind blow reminded him that he still was lost in an unknown forest with his clothing totally soaked so that he even briefly wondered how in Suzaku's name he should ever be able to get them dry again.  
  
After a while he began to get suspicious about the silence that radiated from the forest instead of the sounds of animals. At first he hadn't noticed the unnatural silence which lingered all around him, finding it not unusual that most animals had searched for some kind of shelter from the heavy rain which came pouring down from the heaven as if trying to extinguish the fire of hell. But now it came to him that even the small noises, which can be even heard throughout the most horrible thunderstorm humans can imagine, were missing.  
  
Suddenly Tasuki stumbled in a clearing turning around in a split second to see the trees forming an impenetrable wall behind him. Now he knew something was very wrong with this forest.  
  
The last time, when there was still the light of the fading sun, he had climbed on a tree to get a better look of his surroundings, the only thing he had seen was one large carpet consisting of tree tops, spreading from one horizon to the other. Besides, since he had gotten to the clearing he had a very funny feeling in his gut and his character on his right forearm had started to glow bright red, the character "yoku", meaning wing, was clearly visible even from a wider distance.  
  
When Tasuki finally turned around again he saw the statue of the most beautiful female creature he had ever seen, standing in the middle of this wondrous clearing, illuminated by the full moon. Wide-eyed and gaping he walked very slowly towards to the kneeling ivory epitome of purity and beauty.  
  
As he got closer he noticed that it couldn't be the statue of a human women, unless their ears had grown a couple of inches, becoming longer but slender and definitely more elegant he decided. Besides the ears the face wasn't as soft as a human woman's would have been, but rather more elegant with sharper contours, giving it a hint of haughtiness and arrogance, which was only softened by the eyes. The eyes were made out of pure gold and as he looked at them he had a feeling that she was looking down at him with compassion and wistful.  
  
She was wearing a dress, which was without any decorations, covering her whole body without concealing one of the very female curves of the body. The only other plain visible parts of her body were her hands, which were folded in front of her as if she was praying.  
  
Tasuki's eyes drew slightly together as he got the feeling that there was something missing and when he was practically standing nose to nose to the statue he saw that there had once been something she was holding.  
  
While the bandit was trying to figure out where he had heard of such a creature, which was now kneeling in front of him, before, a red sign suddenly appeared on the statue's forehead and he got a feeling of floating through space with the earth dissolving into nothing leaving him without support.  
  
As he fell into the darkness, which had suddenly opened beneath his feet he heard the sound of mountains crumbling and crushing above his head. The last thing he thought before drifting into oblivion was that a few hours before on his look out he hadn't seen any mountains.  
  
When the red haired man regained conscious he found himself in a tunnel deep inside a volcano. A volcano ?!? There was no doubt in Tasuki's mind that he had indeed ended up in a volcano. He could hear the distant sound of the boiling lava and smell the ash, he even saw a glimmer of red at the far end of the tunnel.  
  
To the other side the tunnel abruptly ended as he came face to face with a solid wall made of stone. Turning he went towards the red light, noticing as he passed that the tunnel had been carved into the rock and that torches on either side of the tunnel lightened his way towards the centre of the volcano.  
  
While walking he muttered to himself about him and his luck, cursing whomever was responsible for getting him there and immediately addressing an excuse to his guardian god Suzaku, who was the source of his powers, in case he was the one who got him there. If Suzaku was indeed the one who sent him there, he must have had a reason for doing so and a god normally didn't meddle with the affairs of mortals, unless it was very important, affecting the carefully guarded balance between the worlds.  
  
Tasuki was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the sweat running down his temples as he came nearer and nearer to the source of the red light. The sight of the bright red opening in the tunnel before him tore him away from his brooding. Leaving the tunnel he had wandered through for the last hour he stepped onto a large platform, 10 m above the hot lava.  
  
Leading from the platform to the other side of the crate was a bridge made of granite. Well the bridge wasn't really a bridge nut rather a stone plank with the diameter of 30 cm. On the other side was an opening with ornamentation around it, but he couldn't make out the kind of the ornaments as the "bridge" was more than 2 km long !  
  
The red head started to cross the crate by looking at his feet and carefully putting one foot in front of the other, trying not to lose his balance and tumble into the red liquid beneath. A few meters before reaching the other platform he looked up again and lost his balance as the result of what he saw.  
  
Only due to his fast reflexes was Tasuki able to grab a hold on the plank just before falling down for an unwanted hot bath in the lava. Well at least he wouldn't need the ability to swim if he fell down there he decided. With a brief thought about getting those swimming lessons Tamahome had promised to give him, his gaze rose to meet the sight of the open mouthed, angry looking dragon face which was carved into the stone around the opening.  
  
The opening was framed by huge teeth and the when one went on through the opening it looked like if one was walking down the abyss of the enormous beast. Tasuki felt the goose-pimples ascent on his forearms and the small hairs on his neck rising.  
  
With little effort he climbed back up onto the "bridge" and while walking the rest of the way to the platform he kept chiding himself how stupid he had been to get scared by a stupid peace of rock and thinking about how Tama and Nuriko would have made fun of him for being so easily unnerved.  
  
As he thought about his friends he felt a sudden feeling of loneliness wash trough him. He shook his head wildly to get his mind back to the here and now. One last gulp and wetting his lips the bandit disappeared into the dark yawning opening.  
  
After about 5 minutes walking down the dark corridor, feeling his way with his hands, Tasuki felt an expansion of the room surrounding him, the passage had apparently led to a huge hall. Keeping close to the wall he entered and when he felt the familiar shape of a torch, a maniacal grin spread on the young man's features - he would need fire for this little baby, but hey that was no problem for the "master of fire"!  
  
With a short bark of laughter he pulled out his tessen ( flame fan ) and with a "rekka shi-en", just as he came to the "-en" part remembering to only create a small flame instead of his usual, which would destroy the torch instead of lightening it, he was surrounded by light.  
  
He noticed that the walls were as smooth as glass with fine lines of gold in between where a gold vein passed through the rock. As he turned his gaze to look across the hall, he saw big rocks scattered around the middle of it. Walking closer, he noticed they weren't normal rocks but pieces of a fresco.  
  
Deciding to lighten the other torches as well, so that he would actually be able to see the fresco, Tasuki went back to the wall. When he was finished with the torches he looked up and the one torch in his hand dropped as all of his strength was suddenly needed for keeping him standing upright.  
  
At the ceiling creatures like the statue he had seen earlier, smaller, sturdier built beings and very ugly beasts were fighting against each other, seeming very much alive and looking as though they'd come down any moment to pull him into their fight as well, above them several dragons were having their own fight going on.  
  
This was all made out of gold, silver and bronze, Tasuki estimated that the fresco would be worth more than all the money in Konan combined. He stood there, only capable of gaping wide eyed at this wonder, wondering who on earth could have painted such a thing, Suzaku be damned, he even could see the smallest details even though the ceiling was more than 50 m above his head, nevertheless built such great hall deep down inside a volcano.  
  
Gazing up at the ceiling he knew from one moment to the other what those wondrous creatures were called, remembering stories his mother used to tell him when he was a little boy. They were elves, dwarves and hideous trolls, but how could it be possible, that they were drawn so real, as if the painter had had them right before his eyes, drawing exactly what he saw.  
  
That couldn't be true though, because they were only figures out of fairytale, right ?!? He was suddenly torn out of his observations by screams, which sounded like lost souls wailing over their fate.  
  
The young seishi was beginning to feel very cold, jumping between two large pieces of the fresco, which had fallen down, he precautionary pulled out his tessen as shivers ran down his body. Tasuki cowered low behind the shelter of the rocks, waiting.  
  
With a shrill squeak a mouse came out of its hiding place. The red haired man was so surprised, that he fell back on his butt, blinking stupidly at the small mouse with unusually huge violet eyes. When the mouse got on her hind legs to look around curiously he heaved a big sigh of relief.  
  
Just then an enormous paw with razor sharp claws came down in front of him, only missing him by millimetres, squashing the mouse. With an expression of utter thunderstruck Tasuki raised his gaze to look directly in a huge, smug appearing, eye of one of the dragons, who had been so realistically caught in the picture of the fresco.  
  
The eye was as big as he was and in it he could see his own reflection, glimmering with a light golden complexion since the eye's colour was one of pure gold. As he kept staring at his reflection he saw his own eyes roll back into his head and with a hint of annoyance he noticed that he was falling unconscious yet again.  
  
The last thing he saw before everything went black was a hint of a silver- blue shimmer, which he recognised as the dragon's body colour. 


	2. Chapter II

Chapter II  
  
In a forest near Eiyou, the capital of Konan, four other of the Suzaku seishi were in the middle of a fight for their lives. Well, two of them were, as the other two were already dead and now only existed as ghosts. The one seishi with the long purple hair, whose beauty as well as his clothes concealed his true sex, noticed their friend's disappearance first. Nuriko's brown eyes were searching the nearer area for any sign of the loud mouthed bandit who'd usually have had burned down a great deal of the forest by now, trying to destroy the horrible monsters, who had attacked them.  
  
Monsters who seem to have jumped out of a fairytale, with which one often frightened disobedient little children, and who were called trolls. They were two and a half meters tall, green beasts with big, ugly scars covering every inch of their bodies. Their bodies and their with claws were covered with greasy hair which was only covered by the one garment they were wearing, which was a loincloth.  
  
Their bulbous noses and their spike like teeth dominated the faces of the trolls. Above their noses was only one eye, which looked like the eye of a cat, but had the colour of blood. Their ears were more than half lacerated and mostly covered by their loud green hair, with rusty brown strands, which looked like dried blood and Nuriko wasn't sure if they really were or not, in between.  
  
Now he was getting really worried about his friend because after looking for him for quite some time, between flying punches, he still hadn't seen any trace of the other seishi's red hair nor had he heard the curses, which normally accompanied his fighting.  
  
It had also become clear to him that those trolls were really dangerous, hey they were even able to beat the shit out of HIM, and he was a ghost, no human had been able to touch him or the other way round, when he wasn't wearing his holy bracelets, until now.  
  
With a slight hint of desperation he draws the attention of his companions to himself, waving wildly with his arms and yelling that Tasuki had gone missing. He could only see Chichiri, the monk, and Chiriko, their little genius who had died at the early age of 13. Tama, their beloved miko's husband, whom Nuriko saw as a little brother, was nowhere to be seen.  
  
Just when Nuriko was about to start worrying about him, he felt the others life force attack. In one strike, over half of their attackers was pulverized. This proved to the purple haired man that Tamahome, or as he called him Tama, was just as worried about the bandit's disappearance as he was.  
  
The rest was easily defeated by one of Chichiri's spells followed by a few punches, which Nuriko was all to eager to deal out. When all was over the beautiful ghost took an all around look to see what they had brought about. What he saw made him chuckle lowly; yes they certainly hadn't lost their touch. Where he was standing once trees and bushes had reigned, but now the only thing left were a few burnt tree stumps and a large burnt to a cinder piece of land.  
  
As he kept looking around his eyes widened in horror as he became aware of Tama's body covered in his own blood and lifelessly lying on the ground with Chiriko beside him crying and desperately trying to touch and help him, which was, considered that he was a ghost a very useless attempt.  
  
Just when Nuriko was about to call Chichiri for help he saw the monk running towards their friend, falling to his knees beside him he immediately started to treat the other seishi's wounds. With one hop in the air the purple haired seishi landed beside his friends, noting that the earth around them was soaked in blood. Blood of one of the people he loved and had sworn to himself to protect, even after his own death.  
  
Nuriko tried to get Tama to wake up or at least show some sign of LIFE, but soon tears welled up in his eyes as the pain of not being able to help or at least comfort his friend, pierced through his soul.  
  
Tama's upper body had five very deep slashes running down from his collarbone to his navel in parallel lines, cutting his chest open and exposing some of his inner organs. His face was sliced in half by a cut from his left temple, crossing over his nose, splitting is lip to come to an end at his chin. There was also a deep cut in his right thigh, so deep that the white of his bone was visible. Both his arms and legs were covered in deep dark-blue bruises and smaller cuts. From the looks of it, his left shoulder was broken as well as dislocated.  
  
Nuriko, even dead as he was, could feel the initially urge to vomit at this sight. He saw the sweat running down Chichiri's temples as he tried to stop the bleeding. Damn, why wasn't Mitsukake there with them ? He could have healed Tama in no time ! As things were now, Nuriko somehow doubted that he would survive.  
  
"Is there anything you can do for him, Chichiri ?" "I'm afraid not. His wounds exceed my abilities no da. If we don't get him to Taiitsu-kun soon we'll lose him for sure no da." "Well, can't you just call her or transport us to her ?!?" "We can't risk moving him no da. But you're right, I can try to reach Taiitsu-kun with my magic."  
  
With those words the mage abandoned his friend to kneel at a slight distance, starting the complicated spell to contact the tentai, creator, of the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho.  
  
In the meantime Chiriko and Nuriko were practically begging Tamahome to hang on.  
  
"Tama-chan don't even think about giving up and joining our club !!" "Please Tamahome, you got to hang on. Miaka needs you."  
  
After Chichiri finished his spell nothing happened.  
  
"What the hell..?!?"  
  
Before the monk could finish his curse an old hag appeared out of nowhere and he breathed a sight of relief. Taiitsu-kun took one look at the wounded seishi and the turned sad eyes to the mage, who had once been her student.  
  
"I'm sorry, but even I can't heal him. The only one with that power is Suzaku himself and he has gone missing." "What do you mean by he has gone missing ?!" Three voices demanded in unison. "For quite some time now the auras of the four gods have disappeared. I've tried to contact them and after a while I even started to look for them with my powers but I wasn't able to find them."  
  
"How is any of the gods able to just disappear. I mean, they are our guardians and they are connected to this world. Without them the world chaos would break out. Isn't that right Taiitsu-kun ?"  
  
"Yes Chiriko that's quiet right and I don't think they left on their accord." "What do you mean ? No one can just kidnap a god !" Nuriko exclaimed slightly confused. "Of course not ! But as we have seen with Tenkou, there are a few powers who can almost compete with the one of a god. This though can only happen when the god is taken by surprise."  
  
"So you mean we could be dealing with another Tenkou ?" The monk asked worried. "It is possible, yes." "But what becomes of Tamahome ?"  
  
"I can keep him alive for a certain time while you go searching for the four gods." "Where should we start looking ?" "Go to the temple of each god. Maybe you'll find a clue to what has happened."  
  
With that Tamahome was encircle in a pinkish light and he and Taiitsu-kun were gone. Leaving behind three confused and a little desperate seishi. Looking at each other they pondered about how to best approach their new task. In the end it was decided that Chiriko should continue his journey to the royal Palace alone to inform his majesty's ghost and Mitsukake about the recent events, while Chichiri and Nuriko would start their quest for the four gods of the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho universe. 


	3. Chapter III

Chapter III  
  
Tasuki was slowly regaining consciousness. With more than a little annoyance he realized he had fallen unconscious a few times too often during the last 24 hours. Not sensing anything the bandit thought that maybe he had just imagined the dragon or if that encounter had been real, the dragon had left. Cautiously he opened one eye to a slit and when he couldn't see anything abnormal he opened both eyes fully.  
  
When he turned around his eyes popped out of his head as he found the dragon watching him with its golden eyes, which sparkled with amusement. Tasuki's first reaction was to grab for his tessen on his back, but instead of his beloved fan he came up with air in his hands as the weapon wasn't at its usual place.  
  
/You won't be needing your little toy. I don't intent to harm you in any way and even if I did the little thing of iron wouldn't make any difference anyway./  
  
"Whaaa.."  
  
/Didn't your mother teach you not to curse in the presence of an elder ?/ the dragon interrupted him. /Oh I see, she did try to do so and that's one of the reasons why you ran away from home./  
  
The red head stared gaping at the being in front of him, which was presently speaking to him inside his head. For once the bandit was speechless.  
  
/Good. If you are silent for a while I might actually be able to tell you where you are, why you are here and what to do to get back./  
  
That sounded like a good idea to Tasuki and therefore he made himself comfortable on the ground. He had a feeling this would take a while.  
  
/You're absolutely right about that. But where're my manners ? I am Zyan Silverarrow one of the last members of the silver dragon clan. My clan is responsible for watching over and protect the gates between the different dimensions of the earth./  
  
"Whaddafuck ? Different levels of da earth ?!? Ya gotta be fuckin kiddin me !!"  
  
/Watch your language child./  
  
"I dun wanna disappoint ya, but I'm no kid. Bout this time next month I'll be 20."  
  
/You are right, you are no child but merely a baby. A babe, which shouldn't be apart from its mother./  
  
"Ah no, don't ya even mention my ma ! I'm sooo glad I 'aven't seen her in a looong time !"  
  
/As you wish, I will drop the matter of your mother for now, but beware, we shall speak of it some more when there's enough time/  
  
"Yeah, yeah .. Hey didn't ya want to tell me a nice lil bedtime story ?" /I see that this will be a very long afternoon. How about a deal ? I'll tell you but you will keep your mouth shut until I give you permission to ask your questions. Oh, and no cursing either/  
  
After slightly hesitating Tasuki mumbled something which could be interpreted as ".whatever.." and turned his curious gaze to the dragon. Feeling he had the red heads undivided attention Zyan started to tell him about the world with its dimensions as well as about the creatures which lived in each of the dimension.  
  
/At the moment you are basically still in Konan just on another level, called the 'supernatural' dimension. Here practically everything you can imagine is possible. After seeing more of 'our world' you'll probably wonder why every single fairytale creature really exist here. That's easily explained. Even though mortals, like yourself, cannot cross between the dimensions, but it sometimes happens, during near-death experiences, that one of you switch from one level to the other. Their stay though is only for a very short period of time as they think they are dreaming and when forcing themselves to 'wake up' they switch back to their own dimension. During their stay they often have seen some of our inhabitants and they start to spin stories around these beings they have never seen before. That's how most of your fairytales come into existence./  
  
"If ya tellin da truth then what am I still doin here ?! I mean, . my stay 's already longer than I should 'ave been !" The bandit cut in rudely.  
  
/I was coming to THAT part. You really should learn to be a bit more patient. Anyway, as you noticed this doesn't refer to you as well, since you are needed here. The four guardian gods of the heavens have disappeared and the world has devolved into chaos, shattering the balance between the dimensions. As the four gods are the only one who can restore the balance creatures as well as mortals have been sent out to find them./  
  
"Come to da point will ya ? I mean I still 'ave no clue why I'm here!"  
  
/Patience is a virtue! Your part in this battle, if you want to call it that, is to prevent the end of the world by fighting the chaos./  
  
"Äh .? Whadya mean by that ? How can anyone fight chaos ?!?"  
  
/The chaos was brought down on us by the forces of darkness and its jackals. Normally the forces of darkness are held in cheque by the forces of light but since the queen of the elves, the guardians of light, has vanished they have split. It is your obligation to find out her whereabouts and if necessary to free bring her back to her people so that they will once more be united. Once they are they will be able to drive the accomplices of the darkness back./  
  
"Just wait a sec ! Why should I go looking for a .. a woman ? I dun even like 'em to begin with !!"  
  
/She's not a normal woman but the queen ./  
  
Zyan was interrupted by the noise of bustle from another tunnel. The dragon apologized to his guest and disappeared into the large opening to find out what caused the sudden nervousness of his subjects, leaving behind a very confused, weary and exhausted bandit.  
  
Tasuki, figuring there wasn't anything for him to do, curled up on the ground and a few moments later he was loudly snoring. 


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter IV  
  
The red haired Suzaku seishi was awakened some time later by the smell of smoke, which caused him to sit up quickly and cough. It took him quite some time until he was able to breathe normal again. When he finally opened his eyes the heat and the smoke caused them to water.  
  
Covering his nose and mouth with a piece of cloth he made his way in the direction the dragon had disappeared moments ago.  
  
While swaying through the black smoke he bumped into a solid warm something and landed promptly on his ass as the something he ran into proved to be unyielding.  
  
Swearing heavily he turned his gaze towards the cause for his less than graceful mishap. It turned out to be one of the graceful creatures with the long ears. The being was tall and slender with long cobalt blue hair and marvellous features.  
  
After a few moments Tasuki decided that the elf, that's what he decided this being was, was male since it lacked a bit of perimeter on the height of its chest.  
  
At his outburst the elf arched one of his elegant eyebrows and his lips turned into a slight smirk.  
  
"And whadya laughin 'bout ?!" the bandit demanded to know.  
  
"You humans are barbarians" the other male answered in a melodious voice.  
  
Before Tasuki's temper could get a hold of him, the elf grabbed his arm and swiftly hauled him up. Stunned into silence, which was a rare thing with the bandit, he was dragged along behind the other being. He was led through one tunnel full of smoke after another until he was convinced that the volcano was in reality one huge labyrinth.  
  
When they finally stumbled out into fresh air the first thing both did was to take a deep breath and then cough out the smoke out of their lungs. After almost coughing out their entire inner organs they calmed down again and Tasuki turned his gaze on the elf once again.  
  
"Say, who are ya anyway ? Some kind of weirdo ?"  
  
"As usual a human has proven that his kin is inferior to the rest of life . except for trolls maybe, but even that is questionable."  
  
"Whaaa... ?!?"  
  
"I am Torian, at least that's the name you'll be calling me while we're stuck together. We can't afford to lose anymore time. Zyan is waiting for us on the ledge, so let's not keep him waiting."  
  
The red head found himself speechless once again. Who the hell did this 'I have a stick up my ass' think he is ?!? Pushing him around without even letting him finish one sentence ! He was going to teach that little worm what it meant to mess with one of the Suzaku shichi seishi !  
  
Reaching for his tessen, which had appeared again as soon as the dragon had left him alone, on his back he was surprised when he was suddenly yanked forwards towards a steep path, which wound itself up towards the mentioned ledge. As they neared their destination Tasuki could see the large body and wings of Zyan.  
  
When his gaze drifted towards the bottom of the volcano his eyes almost popped out of his head because of the sight before him.  
  
The volcano was the only thing existing within hundreds of kilometres, around it the environment was desert like. No plant could be found.  
  
In fact the only thing visible besides the sand was the mass of the creatures, which had attacked him, and some of the other Suzaku seishi on their way to Eiyou. This time though, there weren't only a few of them but a fucking enormous army, which besieged the volcano as if it were a hostile fortress. On second thought it probably was the red haired bandit decided.  
  
Well, he HAD wondered why the tunnels were on fire and now he had his answer. The fire had been caused by the burning flying arrows and the balls, which exploded once they came into contact with something solid.  
  
//Bombs// his brain supplied //Yeah, that's what Tama had called them when he had told them about the Miko's world.//  
  
His musings came to a sudden end as they reached the silver dragon who was keeping an eye on the things, which were happening on the plain.  
  
Upon their arrival Zyan turned his head to look at both of them.  
  
/We can't afford to lose anymore time. They will have torn down my magical shields in a few moments. Hurry and climb up my back. Try to make yourselves comfortable./  
  
Torian dragged the bandit towards the dragon and tried to heave him up. Tasuki's brain, which had been considerably absent, chose that moment for its comeback. He began to violently struggle, thrusting his arms and legs against the elf to free himself.  
  
Yet he didn't accomplish anything. Only after cursing everything in the world especially a certain elf which resulted in a short order from the dragon, did Torian let him go. After putting a safe distance between himself and the dragon and elf, he started to yell angrily at them.  
  
"No way ! Do I 'ave a big sign on my forehead, stating moron ? I'm not gonna climb up there ta just crash down again once we're in da air."  
  
"Oh, would you stop it ?! Do you trust Zyan that little ?"  
  
"Well duh ! Why should I trust him anyway ? I mean, it ain't as if he has done anything trustworthy thus far."  
  
"That's far off the point ! He's a member of the silver dragon clan, one of the 'good dragons' and one of the most loyal and trusted subject of the gods !"  
  
"And ya point being ? Just 'cause you're thinking he's almost godlike doesn't mean I have ta trust him."  
  
"You are one insolent and rude .." he was searching for a fitting word and could only come up with "..human."  
  
"Now I'm hurt " the red head's voice dripped with sarcasm but before he could say anything else, Zyan interrupted him.  
  
/Stop it both of you. This is no time to be fighting. Torian, Tasuki is right. Why should he trust someone who until today he had only known from stories he was told when he was very little ?/  
  
This got the elf a victorious glance and grin.  
  
/You have two options youngling. Either you stay here and fall into the hands of the trolls, who'll just love to torture you before eating you for supper, or you can hop up, hold on and pray to Suzaku that we will indeed not 'crush down'. Your choice./  
  
The only reply Tasuki was capable of was to look dumbfounded at the dragon. Smoke started to come out of his ears as he thought REALLY hard about the matter and then climbed on the dragon's back without another word. The elf climbed up as well and sat himself in front of the bandit with a huge smirk plastered on his face.  
  
When Zyan spread his silver wings and glided into the air, Tasuki held on to Torian for dear life. His eyes as well as his mouth, for once, were shut tightly. His fangs dug into his lower lip, causing two tiny droplets of blood to run down his chin.  
  
"You don't have to crush me just because you're frightened. Relax ! Zyan's magic prevents you from falling off. So loosen up and enjoy the ride. Look, we are flying over some villages, can you see how small the other beings down there look ? Hey, they're even smaller than you!"  
  
//He's soooo dead ! .as soon as I 'ave ground under my feet again. Who da hell does he think he is ?! Just because he's crazy doesn't mean I'm suicidal. I'm not gonna let go so that he'll get rid of me. No way !//  
  
Thinking this, the bandit clanged on to the elf even more, that gained him an amused chuckle from Torian, which he could feel trembling through the other's body.  
  
No human can be cramped for a long period of time and Tasuki soon felt himself loosening up against his will. When after a few hours he hadn't fallen down, he opened first one and then the second eye.  
  
Very carefully he started to look around him and found, that the dragon flew above the clouds and one could only see the ground when there was a gap in the cloud cover. The bandit also noticed, that he rather enjoyed how the wind blew in his face and he closed his eyes to take a deep breath. From that moment on he relished the feeling of freedom flying invoked in him. 


End file.
